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KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The eighth-ranked Jennies fell to No. 7 Emporia State, 75-71 in the MIAA Tournament championship game on Sunday afternoon despite a late comeback attempt.
UCM (25-4, 17-2 MIAA) trailed by 14 points with 14 minutes to play in the second half and tied the game with 1:19 left, but the Lady Hornets pulled away in the final minute, scoring four straight points to take their second-consecutive MIAA Tournament title.
The Jennies were unable to build on an early 6-0 lead, as Emporia State kept the game within two possessions halfway through the first half. After building their biggest lead at 16-9 following a pair of free throw conversions from
Keuna Flax, the Lady Hornets outscored the Jennies, 13-3 over the next 4:50 to take a 22-19 lead.
Merissa Quick, Rheanna Egli, Amber Vandiver and Haley Parker combined for five more to put UCM in a 10-point hole with 6:25 left in the half.
With the Jennies trailing, 34-25 with 2:41 on the clock, Flax drew a foul and made two free throws to keep the Jennies within seven, but Emporia State's Kelly Moten closed out the half converting on four free throws to put the Jennies in a 38-29 hole going into halftime. UCM's bench could not match Emporia State's second unit, scoring just three points to the Lady Hornets' 17 in the first half. The Jennies shot just 25% (8-of-32) from the floor.
Revonnia Howard and Flax each scored in the first minute of the second half to cut the deficit to five, but a three-pointer by Laura Patrick and a pair of baskets by Kionna Kellog and Quick pushed Emporia State's lead back up to 12 at 45-33 with 17:22 remaining.
The Jennies were able slice the deficit to single-digits, holding Emporia State to two points while piling up 10 points in a span of 42 seconds. They continued to chip away, pulling to within 63-55 over nearly six-and-a-half minutes, capped off by a jumper from Flax with 5:07 left.
UCM and ESU exchanged baskets on the next three possessions before Moten dropped in a layup with 2:33 left to put the lead at 71-65.
A three-pointer by
Breonna Embray on the next UCM posession, her only points on the day, brought the score to 71-68 with 2:15 left. Following a defensive stop, Embray found
Shelby Winkelmann who buried a three from the bottom right corner to tie the game at 71-71.
Following a timeout, Emporia State jumped back ahead by four following a pair of layups by Quick to seal the 75-71 victory.
The loss snaps the Jennies' 10-game win streak, the longest since the 1989-90 season. The Jennies' all-time postseason record against Emporia State falls to 2-10.
Winkelmann led the Jennies in scoring with 16, shooting 6-of-11 from the floor, 2-of-4 from three-point range.
Howard picked up her fifth double-double of the season, scoring 14 points and adding 15 rebounds. She blocked two shots, moving into eighth-place on the Jennies' single-season blocked shots list with 42.
The NCAA selection show can be seen tonight at 9 p.m. on NCAA.com